Population-adjusted indirect comparison (PAIC) is an increasingly used technique for estimating the comparative effectiveness of different treatments for the health technology assessments when head-to-head trials are unavailable. Three commonly used PAIC methods include matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC), simulated treatment comparison…

The purpose of this article was to offer guidance to educators in evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, and most effective uses of commercial reading assessment suites. We provide three resources to help educators who are responsible for making instructional decisions in reading using formal screening, benchmark, interim, and progress-monitoring…

Decision Support Systems (DSS) are automated information systems designed to aid administrative decision making. A literature review on the design, implementation, and evaluation of DSS, suggests that evaluators act as liasons between designers and managers, identify and collect data for DSS, and evaluate DSS. (Author/EGS)

Highlights of this article include revisiting competency expectations for IT practitioners; revisiting technology-selection criteria; using ROI to support interactive technology selection decisions; technology-oriented inputs to ROI determinations; and business cases of ROI in action. (AEF)

Systems dynamics, a computer-based tool for visualizing how parts of an organization work together over time, is a valuable tool in administrative decision making. Feedback loops among elements mimic complicated behavior in real or imagined situations. An experiment using the technique with a simple research funding model validated its utility.…

Many operational and some tactical information needs can be well supported with current information technology and campus-based data, but information support for many tactical and most strategic decisions may be aided by interinstitutional collaboration. (Author/MSE)

A discussion of Executive Information Systems, the newest decision-support computer application for organizations, argues that this approach could profoundly change how colleges and universities are managed. Using graphics, icons, and mainframe data retrieval software, middle management can handle large quantities of information. Proven design…

The complexity of Seattle University's decision to replace three separate computerized student information systems with one integrated system was managed with a multicriteria method for evaluating alternatives. The method both managed a large amount of information and reduced people's resistance to change. (MSE)

A system dynamics model for the pricing of tuition is presented, illustrating how such models enable decision-makers to anticipate cause-and-effect relationships and test alternative courses of action. (Author)

Describes implementation of a computerized version of the Child Welfare League of America's Child Well-Being Scales by a family services agency in southern Ontario. Reviews results obtained from 172 families to illustrate the potential for using computerized risk assessment as an aid in clinical, supervisory, and management decision-making…

The microcomputer revolution, in which small and large computers have gained tremendously in capability, has created a distributed computing environment. This circumstance presents administrators with the opportunities and the dilemmas of choosing appropriate computing resources for each situation. (Author/MSE)

Describes how school districts can use microcomputers for financial modeling in order to conduct a logical and rational school closure analysis. (MLF)

Project SPECIAL was undertaken as a pilot test of the application of computer/communications technology to problems in special education information management. The objective of the project was to create a prototype county-wide system for special education administrators at the local, county, and state levels. The system was intended to meet the…

Project Impact, a support system for the administrative and instructional staff in the Onondaga-Madison BOCES schools, was designed to support a diagnostic-prescriptive approach in the classroom by providing the information the teacher needs in order to make instructional decisions. It consists of a series of computer programs with a large storage…

A Management Operations Review and Evaluation (MORE) study of the Department of Management Information and Computer Services, which was completed in the fall of 1980, strongly recommended that the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) develop a long-range plan to meet the computer needs of schools and central offices. In response to this…